Depression is a state of low self esteem, hormonal imbalance and experiences from the outside world that are affecting judgement

Being pregnant affects the treatments of depression

Treatments for depression

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Treatments for depression

Overall, there are three different treatments for depression that are widely applied to sufferers. But you might wonder if your situation is different due to certain circumstances. So I have put together a list, explaining some common situations and how they affect depression and its treatment options.
 

Pregnancy

A Canadian study established that detecting depression as early as possible during pregnancy is critical, as an untreated depression during the entire pregnancy will most likely have cognitive, emotional, and behavioral consequences for child.[1] In addition to the common signs of depression, symptoms may include fear for the baby, fear of disturbing it and fear of being alone with it. Unless the depression is very severe, doctors do not recommend antidepressants as a treatment, as such unnatural drugs can affect the baby’s natural development. Rather, psychotherapy is the usual method to treat depression in pregnant women.[2]
 

Animals

Animals, especially social animals like dogs, can get depression just like humans can. Although they cannot verbally communicate their feelings, there are certain signs such as loss of interest in enjoyable activities, food and/or co-animals. Dogs may also exhibit stressful behavior when its owner is absent, and antidepressants is the go-to method for treating depression in dogs and other animals. In fact, antidepressants is a commonly prescribed drug for a variety of disorders in dogs.[3]

 

Age

Depression in the elderly is common although not normal, but it is more difficult to identify as the person in mind may assume that depression is just part of aging. Although retirement, the death of loved ones, increased isolation and medical problems is often associated with aging, the depressive thoughts these changes can cause are curable. Depressions in older people can be cured the same way as everyone else, but antidepressants is a risky treatment, as not only are seniors more vulnerable to side effects, antidepressants can also cause rapid bone loss and a higher risk of fracture after falling

 

Economy

People with limited financial means (poor people) are twice as likely to get depressed compared to those with a sufficient economy, a study from 2011 showed.[4] It found that 31% of Americans living under the international poverty line had been diagnosed with the disorder, compared to 15.8% of those living above it. Asthma and obesity is also more common, but the difference in depression is more striking.

 

Multiple sclerosis

Between 250,000 and 350,000 Americans have multiple sclerosis – a neurological disorder that ranks as one of the most common in the US.[5] Depression in MS patients is also very high, around 50%, a study found. [6] It is thus reasonable to assume that repeated sadness, loss of interest in pleasurable pastimes or other common symptoms of depression are part of, or due to, the MS condition, but is rather indicative of a separate case of depression. However, side effects of medication taken to treat multiple sclerosis may cause depression, or depression may itself be a side effect.[7]

 

Do you think your situation demands special consideration? Luckily, we have a range of different anti-depression apps. Check it out and see which one suits your situation the best!

Antidepressants, therapy and medical devices are common depression treatments

Depression treatments

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Depression treatments

If you have already attempted all the natural remedies and found that they didn’t work, there are other methods that doctors and professionals use to cure depressions. Keep in mind that a depression is a disease like any other. From a categorical perspective, there is no difference between schizophrenia and depression. Both are illnesses.

 

Most common methods of depression treatments

Anyway, below I have listed three types of treatments, the two first accounting for the vast majority of depression treatments used by professionals:

  • Medication (antidepressants such as SSRI).
  • Psychotherapy. With adolescents and children, psychotherapy is generally the go-to treatment and medication is only prescribed if therapy is deemed unsuccessful by the therapist. These sessions are basically talks between the patient and a trained psychotherapist, psychiatrist, psychologist or even clinical social workers or nurses. There are many different therapy approaches, one of them being NLP which stands for Neurolinguistic Programming. In a nutshell, NLP is about seeing yourself and your surroundings in a new light, and realizing your potential. If you would like to know more about NLP, we have an app specific for that purpose
  • Medical devices. This is normally seen as a last resort for patients who show resistance to the two other treatments. In most of these devices, the patient is electrically induced with either seizures or brain stimulations. Don’t worry, it’s not the defibrillators that you see used in movies… but it’s down that road.

 

Depression treatments in apps

Additionally, there are three other clinical techniques you can try in our app for defeating depression.

Exercise, bright light and smoke cessation are all DIY-ways on how to beat depression.

How to beat depression

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How to beat depression

As this article has already established, depression is not something that can just go away by itself without effort. Doctors have, however, given several tips on how to beat depression naturally. That is, trying to do it on your own before spending time and money on a professional treatment program.

 

Things you can do

You may have been told these tips over and over and over, but that’s because it’s been proven to work. So before you seek professional help, try the following:

  • Physical exercise that includes high pulse and lots of sweat has been proven to work on mild depressions and have a moderate effect on symptoms.[1] And by the way, walking up and down the stairs in your house does not count. Even if you’re out breath from it.
  • Stop smoking. In a scientific study from 2014, researchers concluded: “Smoking cessation is associated with reduced depression, anxiety, and stress and improved positive mood and quality of life compared with continuing to smoke.”[2] It might be very difficult to stop smoking, but so is physical exercise. Right?
  • Change work routine. A lot of people call in sick because they feel depressed. Regardless of how your boss views this, it is in fact a very legitimate reason. Depression is a disease the same way that the flue is. And it might even be just as contagious. So, if you have little or no desire to go to work in the morning, change your work routine. An empirical study involving almost 6,000 patients found that changes at one’s workplace, be it assigned tasks, co-workers, timetables or something else, makes a lot people, who think they suffer from depression, less likely to call in sick.[3]
  • Other activities that have shown positive results when tested are exposure to bright light (think about it – we are more happy during the summer and more likely to feel depressed during the winter, right?), meditation, listening to calm music or even skipping a night’s sleep

So, try those simple steps first to see if it works. If it doesn’t I’ve written another article that deals with more serious depression treatments that involve medication and therapy.

 

References

[1] “Management of depression in primary and secondary care”. National Clinical Practice Guideline Number 23. National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. 2007. See also this article for further evidence

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3923980/

[3] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006237.pub3/abstract?systemMessage=Wiley+Online+Library+and+related+systems+will+have+3+hours+of+downtime+on+Saturday+12th+September+2015+from+10%3A00-13%3A00+BST+%2F+05%3A00-08%3A00+EDT+%2F+17%3A00-20%3A00+SGT+for+essential+maintenance.++Apologies+for+the+inconvenience.

Anhedonia is a common sign of depression

Signs of depression

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Signs of depression

The symptoms, or signs of depression vary from person to person. Depending on your background, it might differ in terms of which of these symptoms you will experience, but a general rule of thumb is this: the more of them you checkmark, and the longer they last, the more serious your condition and the more important it is that you seek help. However, just because you might have some of the following symptoms, doesn’t mean that you suffer from clinical depression (MDD). Read about depression facts to learn more about what depression is and what it is not.
 

Some common signs of depression

In order of commonality, the signs of depression include:

• Feelings of despair: you have no hopes for the future and your view on life is as black and bleak as can be. Expectations to yourself and your self-worth are severely diminished, and feelings of guilt are increasing. You feel no motivation to do anything. This is the most common sign of depression.
• In women, excessive feelings are common: it takes much less to make you irritated/angry, you are less tolerant and you are more likely to cry for reasons you cannot explain
• No desire in previously pleasurable activities (anhedonia): you once enjoyed going out with friends, but now have little or no desire to do so. Former causes of excitement, for example boyfriend bringing home flowers, kids scoring good grades or warm and sunny weather now have little or no effect on you – you just don’t care anymore.
• Loss of energy and concentration: you once enjoyed cooking, but now just the thought of it makes you tired. You feel distracted by the smallest things, as you constantly procrastinate even important things.
• Changes in appetite and weight: you have little appetite and do not enjoy food as much as you once did. Consequently, you experience heavy weight losses.

In case you recognize the signs of depression

If you feel like crap and you don’t want to do anything but lie in bed all day with no desire or energy to do anything, including eating, and you just want to forget about everything… then you might be going through a period of depression. That being said, there have been misdiagnoses of depression. But if you’re really sure, you can try to overcome your depression by yourself or seek drug-free professional help, depending on how serious it is.

Depression is an actual disease in the brain that requires clinical treatment

Depression facts

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Depression facts

Laypeople often misuse the term to refer to occasional sadness, but that’s not depression. Depression is not even feeling sad all the time – it could just as well be a specific period in your life that is causing this change in wellbeing. Maybe your dog died or you got divorced. These things take time to get over, but feelings of sadness due to undesirable changes in our lives are very common and have nothing to do with depression. It is also quite common to experience symptoms of depression during the two-week period prior to the onslaught of PMS, but these symptoms usually die down once menstrual flow is underway.

 

 

Depression facts: A disorder

But a clinical depression, as doctors call it, is different, as it refers to an actual disease that requires treatment (typically medication or therapy) and encompasses physical symptoms such as insomnia, slow speech, lack of or total absence of concentration, appetite and/or libido. Furthermore, in its huge classification-list, ICD-10, World Health Organization has divided depression into depressive episodes (standalone incidents that do no repeat and do not require treatment) and recurrent depressive disorder (repeating depressive episodes that requires treatment). In both cases, the episodes can be mild, moderate or severe, depending upon the number and severity of the symptoms.

 

Depression facts: Do I have depression?

First of all, I have written a more thorough article, listing the signs of depression. But in a nutshell, it’s a sign of depression if you experience repeated episodes of agitated sadness along with the physical symptoms described above. However, depression is a subcategory under mood disorders which is again a subcategory under mental illnesses. And there are other forms of mood disorders that can be the cause of your sadness. One of them is called bipolar affective disorder which refers to intense mood swings, but whereas depression only refers to a decline in mood, bipolar affective disorder can cause your mood to go up as well as down.

So, if you’re able to feel joyful and jolly, even just for a brief moment, you do not have depression. People with depression don’t care about things that would normally excite them and make them cheerful.

 

What you can do

If you’re absolutely positive that you have some sort of depression, I’ve written another article on how to beat depression. For more advanced stuff, we have an e-book and several apps available for download.